In 2025 the 250 years of the birth of the English writer Jane Austen, author of emblematic novels such as Pride and prejudice, Sense and sensitivity either Emmaamong others. And, far from going unnoticed, the anniversary has become a media event.
The cities linked to his life are taking advantage of Jane Austen’s popularity. In Chawton House (The house in which he wrote most of his novels) Events have been organized throughout this 2025 with thematic festivals included.
In May, the Cathedral of the city of Winchester (in which the author is buried) welcomed a dance of the regency next to his grave. On the other hand, in Bath, where Austen spent a season with his family, A festival is organized annual full of Tours thematic and even an appointment with “Mr. Darcy”, the co -star of Pride and prejudice.
It is very curious that Bath to take out so much Jane Austen’s game, when one of the great Mysteries Around the writer –present in almost all its biographies– It’s if I really loved or hated the city.
He boom of adaptations
Jane Austen is more present than ever in the little and on the big screen and her figure stars in a wave of adaptations and tributes.
Netflix is producing A miniseries based on Pride and prejudice. BBC 2 channel has released a documentary called Jane Austen: Rise of A Geniusthat explores his life from his childhood in Steventon to his literary development. On the other hand, the BBC1 channel It is rolling The other bennet sisterbased on Janice Hadlow’s novelthat reimagine the story from the point of view of Mary Bennet (the most intellectual sister – and undervalued – in Pride and prejudice).
Austenlandmusical inspired by the film based on Shannon Hale’s homonymous novelfollow Jane Hayes, a forty woman obsessed with him Mr. Darcy of Colin Firth. Therefore, he decides to visit a peculiar theme park dedicated to the universe of Jane Austen.
The phenomenon has remained alive on the big screen this 2025 with Franco-British production Jane Austen ruined my life. The young woman of this romantic comedy finds love in a residence dedicated to Austen, an issue that is not accidental. Love – present or not – is one of the great questions of the author’s life, and stars in several of the current tributes, such as an exhibition in Chawton entitled “Jane Austen in Love”
Cassandra and the letters
Another of the great mysteries surrounding the English writer is the content of her correspondence. It is thought that Jane Austen wrote about 3,000 cards, of which only about 170 are preserved; His sister Cassandra burned the rest. The miniseries entitled Miss Austen It focuses, precisely, on the supposed content of these papers, raising an enigma again that we have not resolved centuries.
According to The Biographies of the AuthorCassandra destroyed many of her letters with the aim of protect your privacy and Preserve the image that the family wanted to project from Jane Austen: that of a pious woman, oblivious to romantic passions or political ideas, which she wrote simply because she was a mere hobby.
However, recent investigations have shown that it was really An ambitious womanvery aware of his literary talent and determined to live thanks to his novels. That contrast between the image perfectly constructed and projected by her family and the most complex figure that shows her works or studies on it feeds Jane Austen’s myth: an author wrapped in silences, whose absent letters say as much as her novels, and whose true voice we continue trying to decipher two and a half centuries later.
Jane’s face
The aforementioned miniseries also explores another enigma about the writer: her physical appearance. In The biography published by his nephew James Edward Austen-Leight In 1870, there is a portrait of his that is not the original, but an idealized version of the author, according to the image that the family wanted to preserve: that of a serene, discreet and conventional woman. The portrait that probably represents it faithful is the sketch that is in the National Portrait Gallery in London, made by Cassandra Austen, in which the writer appears with a serious expression – even defensive – with very marked features.
In this way, the miniseries distances itself from the sweetened biopic Becoming Janein which the author – interpreted by Anne Hathaway – appears as a beautiful woman. When choosing a more sober representation – and probably more realistic – both of its physical appearance and its personality, Miss Austen invites to reconsider the figure of Jane Austen from a complex perspective. It thus moves her away from the romantic idealizations that have marked her legacy for generations, emphasizing, once again, the mysteries around the author.
New rewritures
It is precisely those enigmas that invite rediscovery through new versions of their works.
Lately, many reinterpretations of their novels aimed at adolescents are published. Tirzah Price It has rewritten Pride and prejudice, Sense and sensitivity either Mansfield Park With detective dyes (Pride and Premeditation, Sense and Second-Degree Murder and Manslaughter Park).
There are also rewritures that adopt a feminist perspective (Being Mary Bennet from JC Peterson), racial (Where the rhythm takes you From Sarah Dass, U Pride from Ibi Zoboibased on Persuasion and Pride and prejudice) either queer (Northranger of king third, 2023, from Northanger Abbey).
Each of these new versions helps to rekindle the enigmas about their life that have not yet been resolved. Far from forgetting Jane Austen, she is still more present than ever. In this 2025 not only his work is celebrated, but also the mystery that surrounds her. And that’s why we return to her: not only for what he said, but for what we don’t know and we will probably never know.
Rosa García-PeriagoEnglish literature professor, University of Murcia
This article was published in The conversation. Read the original.
